title: Clinical analysis of macular edema with new software for SD-OCT imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical efficacy of user-friendly software for the measurement of intraretinal hyporeflective spaces expression of macular edema.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen consecutive patients with diabetic retinopathy with clinically significant macular edema were examined using conventional spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). A new composite software application, OCT-measurement analysis tool (OCT-MAT), was developed to automatically process and analyze OCT B-scans by means of image acquisition, filtering, and elaboration, together with hyporeflective area recognition and measurement in µm2. The same macular areas were measured manually, and then compared to the measurements obtained by the automated OCT-MAT software. A statistical t test analysis was applied (statistical significance level at p<0.05). The repeatability and reproducibility coefficient for the automated software was computed using the Wilcoxon matched pair test (5% significance level).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all patients, the software effectively measured the number and extension of intraretinal hyporeflective spaces in µm2. The comparison between mean manual measurements and OCT-MAT measurements (0.478 ± 0.300 × 10(6) µm2 vs 0.471 ± 0.321 × 10(6) µm2) showed correct correspondence (p>0.05). Moreover, the OCT-MAT software showed good repeatability and reproducibility (coefficient below 3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OCT-MAT allows the precise measurement of macular edema in terms of the number of empty spaces and their size in all patients. Its daily clinical application might give precise information regarding the evolution of macular edema and the efficacy of therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Morphological Sciences, Ophthalmology Section, University of Insubria, School of Medicine, Varese - Italy. claudio.azzolini@uninsubria.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Azzolini
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sansoni
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: Maurizio Battaglia
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Parodi
authors.forename: Muna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Oum
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vinciguerra
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tartaglia
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Semeraro
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Virgili
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology